Where does presenteeism collide?

In occupational health and organisational behaviour, presenteeism names the behaviour of going to work while ill, staying on the job when symptoms or a health condition would justify staying home. Johns's 2010 review Presenteeism in the workplace treats it as an attendance behaviour whose central puzzle is why people work when unwell, and Aronsson, Gustafsson, and Dallner's 2000 study Sick but yet at work measured how often employees report attending despite feeling they should have taken sick leave. Here the referent is a person's act of showing up while sick, counted as episodes of working while unwell. This differs from the health-economics meaning, which turns that behaviour into a dollar figure, and from the older management meaning, which is about being seen at work regardless of health.[1][2]

Unit

One episode of attending work while ill, per person over a period

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Self-report surveys asking how often a person worked despite illness, and scales of health-related work limitation

In health economics and employer benefits research, presenteeism names the on-the-job productivity that is lost when employees work at reduced capacity because of a health condition, expressed as a cost to the organisation. Goetzel and colleagues' 2004 study of health, absence, disability, and presenteeism cost estimates put a dollar value on that lost output across common physical and mental conditions, and found presenteeism often costs employers more than absence itself. Here the referent is not a behaviour but a quantity of money, a productivity decrement converted into currency per employee per year. This differs from the occupational-health meaning, which studies the act of attending while ill, and from the older management meaning, which concerns mere physical presence.[3]

Unit

A productivity decrement from ill health, in dollars per employee per year

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Productivity-loss instruments such as the WLQ or the WPAI, combined with wage data to yield a monetary cost

An older meaning in management and the labour literature uses presenteeism for the practice of being present at work simply to be seen, putting in long or visible hours as a display of commitment rather than because the work requires it, the mirror opposite of absenteeism. Simpson's 1998 study Presenteeism, power and organizational change examined this long-hours culture and how competitive attendance operates as a career signal and a barrier, especially for women managers. Here the referent is time spent visibly at the workplace as a symbol, whether or not the person is ill or productive. This differs from the occupational-health meaning of coming in sick, and from the health-economics meaning of costed productivity loss.[4]

Unit

Hours of visible attendance beyond what the work requires

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Self-report and observation of long or excessive hours, and studies of long-hours organisational culture